In certain environments, it may be necessary to isolate mechanically sensitive assemblies from shock, vibrational, and acoustic energy. In many applications, this may be accomplished by placing the sensitive components within some form of container or housing. The need to isolate a device from shock, vibrational, and/or acoustic energy may be particularly acute when the device is an inertial sensor assembly (ISA), which may include a sensor suite of an inertial measurement unit (IMU). An ISA typically includes inertial sensors that detect acceleration and/or rotation in three axes. Usually, three accelerometers and three rotational rate sensors are arranged with their input axes in a perpendicular relationship. The sensors may generally be rigidly and precisely mounted within an ISA housing along with related electronics and hardware. Commonly, the housing of the ISA may be mounted to a container of the IMU, and the IMU may be rigidly and precisely mounted to a frame of a vehicle, such as an aircraft, missile, or other object.
Some applications expose the IMU to extremely high dynamic environments, such as ballistic applications wherein a projectile may be fired from a gun. Traditionally, the inertial sensors were protected to some degree from relatively low level shock and vibration through the use of vibration isolators. However, such vibration isolators often do not protect the inertial sensors form higher vibration and shock levels that are often present in many high dynamic environments. Therefore, it may be desirable to provide a mechanism to attenuate energy transfer to the inertial sensors in relatively high shock and vibration environments, particularly in ballistic and other high dynamic applications, to increase the performance of the inertial sensor system.